2010-05-22

The lesson-by Toni Cade Bambara

The main problem of poor people (often they are ethical groups), I think, is they haven’t realised they are poor and being treated unfairly. Every time I pass redfern, I saw many aboriginal people beg or crazily run along the street. They seem quite happy to live on the support of other people or the government and seem feel no shame. And I have talked with many poor people in China and in Australia, most of them are indifferent with their lives and never thought of flighting for better lives or better treatment.

Just as the children in this story They thought they are the smartest in the street and don’t care about education provided by the teacher who is also black. They wouldn’t realised they are poor if they haven’t taken to the shop in the town. The price of a toy is the amount of what a family could earn in a year. Without knowing how other people lives, the poor children would not know they are being treated unequally. Without realising the inequality, poor people are impossible to flight for what they desire.

So I start to understand why Chinese government tries to block the source of information for people to know the past and what is going on in China. Because once they know the true, it is possible for them to flight for their rights. If they have no idea of their situation, they may content about the existing lives though might be unfair.

Note: Toni Cade Bambara is one of the best African American short story writers.

2010-05-18

The use of force-by William Carlos Williams

The story is written by William Carlos Williams and quite worth thinking for a while.




The doctor uses force as a means to check whether the girl has deadly illness. Trying to hide the sore throat, the girl dares not open her mouth, so the doctor uses violent actions to open up the girl's mouth. Finally, the mouth is opened but with brood and the girl's tears. The doctor's inner activities is quite interesting: he say to himself that what he is trying to do is in good purpose and it is what doctor should do-save life; but he also enjoys the violent attack, imagining he is tearing the girl apart. There is no description of the girl's psycological activities, but we can imagine that she obviously knows her illness and the need to be checked. But she tries her best to defense and would not let others know her secrect. After she is forced to open her mouth, her defence becomes attack with anger and frustration.



I natrually connect this story to the relationship between US and Iraq. US attacked Iraq violently, claiming that they did that for the sake of peace and welfare of people in Iraq and the rest of the world. But is it justified to use violence to achieve peace? During the war, how much blood and tears it brought with? How many innocent people died for so call "justification"? In the story, the doctor gains his success, but in the light of the girl's feeling, it might be a lost. Iraq people, just like the girl, know the ills of their country, but they just don't wanna other countries to solve problems for them. They try to defense though they know they may be better if the illness of their political system is cured. After US successfully won the battles and arrested Saddam and his accociates, people in Iraq started to attack US army by suicide bombs and terrorist attack. Exactly as what the story descrides!



The war, I think, is the exaggerated human conflict. The means applied to achieve the good aim might not be necessarily fair and justifed.

2010-05-15

The Celestial Omnibus-by E.M.Foster

The Celestial Omnibus is one of the short story written by E.M.Foster.
I was attracted at the first beginning. A boy is curious about the sign-post opposite his house. It points up a blank alley with the words”Heaven”. He was told that the sign-post is a bad joy made by a young man ages ago and there is no need to think about it any more. But he can not control himself and decides to visit the alley to find out what is in it.

There is a notice on the wall of the alley saying that the company provides sunrise and sunset Omnibused, the passenger could buy a return ticket at this end and will not be issued ticket from the desitination. It seems there is Omnibus driving pass the alley everyday but why nobody knows? and why the dust on the ground is so thick? May be all the things are just bad joke.

But it is not the answer the boy wants.He want to prove that whether the Omnibus exists or not-he senses that all of them are true. At the dawn, he gets up, downstairs and heads to the alley. I can’t breath at this moment:imagine that I have to enter into a dark alley that nobody will go and may encounter something terrible. Normal person will be terrified but curious drives the boy to find out the truth.

There is an Omnibus! The boy jumps into the bus and was taken further and further away. Finally he finds out they are riding on the rainbow! He is in the heaven! It is true! He is right! The boy has a happy time in the heaven, talks with different people and runs across the rainbow.

While when he is home, his story is not believed by his parents. The guest-Mr.Bons appreciates the boy’s potery but disbelieves that is true. The boy insists he has not tell a lie and successfully persuades Mr. Bons to have a ride with him.

Things happen again. When Mr. Bons sees the Omnibus and has been taken to the ride, he worries and frightening, afraiding he is being kidnapped. But when he hears the boy met some people that are the authors of his great books, he is overjoy,deciding to have an intellitual conversation with those admirable authors. But when he realises only the boy not him can go back to the world he scares to death. He cares nothing but cry and beg. Finally he falls through the rocks as it were water and vanished.

Next day, his body is found by people in London, had apparently been hurled from a considerable height.

I am thinking why Mr.Bons is not allowed to return to his world. I think the ending indicates that Mr.Bons lack of imagination to enjoy the peotry and own the books without appreciate them. The boy, may not have read all the great books that Mr. Bons proud of, but he can really enjoy what he have encountered and what he imangines. The boy,rather than the adult, is more welcome by the heaven and is allowed to return to the world. Mr. Bons falls from the heaven because he could not appreciation the joy and beauty of the heaven which actually is a symbol of imaginary literature world.